Computers in Canberra

[elissande]

I read the stuff in the Newbies area. It says to write stuff about myself first, but I figure that will go in the biography... when I get around to doing that.

In a couple of hours I'll be heading down to Canberra with my partner to help my parents buy a computer. My father decided it was time to get with the program - ok, lousy pun.

One of the good things is that I get to take my new car on the first long(ish - 600 km there and back) since I got it. I t will be a really quick trip as we're coming back again tomorrow evening so that we can go to a friend's birthday celebration.

Maybe now I'd better go and finish packing, feeding cats etc.

Comments

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

Have fun in Canberra! wish I was going =/

[mikz.livejournal.com]

What's your new car like? I remember sharing that drive with you in your previous(?) car... actually, now that I come to think of it, we went all the way to Melbourne. I never was sure whether you were comfortable with me setting the cruise control to 10km/h above the speed limit. =)

New car

[elissande.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a renault Scenic dynamique (trust the French to come up with triple barrelled names for cars. It's much the same colour as the previous one, but not the sporty shape. We needed more room for carting around armour, harps etc.

I probably wasn't completely happy with setting the cruise control that high but it wouldn't have been as bad then as now. They are much snippier about the speed limits now - my Dad got done for being 9 k over the speed limit.

Re: New car

[mikz.livejournal.com]

A Reno! I don't notice many of those outside of Europe!

It's hard to imagine them being snippier about speed limits than they were five or ten years ago. I often compare Australia's speeding propaganda to America's drug propaganda. Enforce speed limits on residential streets by all means, but if they're going to be that strict about the freeway, then set speed limits that are in line with the rest of the world!

Anyhow, I hope the drive went well.

Re: New car

[elissande.livejournal.com]

They're not all that common here - not compared to the myriad japanese and Korean cars.

I'm not that unhappy about the speed limits. I don't think that most of our roads are up to higher ones - the one between Sydney and Canberra being one of the exceptions.

Re: New car

[mikz.livejournal.com]

I think most of NSW's speed limits are reasonable, but some bridges and most rural freeways could safely be upped a knotch or two, in my view.

I remember when they started raising some open road speed limits in the NSW outback to 110km/h, and I thought that made sense. Then they got carried away with it and started doing the same with some highways in the Blue Mountains, a bad idea, and they did the usual kneejerk thing and put all open road limits back down to 100. Comparable roads here in the U.S. get 65 or 70MPH speed limits, which is about 110, and they do just fine—some are 75 (120) with no problem either. Freeways like the F5 and National Highway 23 would be a not-really-enforced ~110 here, i.e. traffic would cruise at about 130, which would be the more strictly-enforced speed limit for such roads in Europe, if they have speed limits at all.

I suppose it's a funny thing for me to be so opinionated about, but 110 seems like a snail's pace on the freeway when you're used to driving faster, especially given the distances between Aussie towns. =) I'd be less vocal about it if state governments in Australia weren't trying to make people feel that doing 119km/h in a 110 zone in light traffic during fine weather is like drunk driving, and using that for revenue raising.

Re: New car

[elissande.livejournal.com]

I remember when there were no speed limits on outback roads! And believe me, that was frightening.

Re: New car

[mikz.livejournal.com]

Maybe NSW drivers are just in too much of a hurry, then. =) There are still no limits in the NT, and most motorists I saw there (not very many, admittedly) drove in the 120-140 range by day, and 70-90 range by night. I didn't have to drive very far at night to see why they slowed down—it's amazing how much wildlife bounds onto the roads given how desolate it all seems by day!